Don't Let Go
by winchestersangels
Summary: **Hiatus** What if there had been another human in Purgatory with Dean? A girl named Lia? And what happens when she comes back into Dean's life? A Dean/OFC fic that begins after season 8 episode 13. It is an AU that will more or less follow the show. Rated M to be safe (language, potential for explicit content)
1. Shouldn't Come Back

**Opening Notes:**

This story picks up with Lia Butler. The entire time that Dean was in Purgatory, so was Lia, but when Dean got out, Lia did not. She was in Purgatory a few months longer. The way Supernatural is written, season 8 should technically be set in 2014-2015 when you factor in the year Dean spent with Lisa after the apocalypse and then the year Sam spent alone while Dean was in Purgatory. I'm choosing to only factor in the year of Purgatory, making it 2014. If you would like to see who I am using as the face claim for Lia, look up Melissa Benoist, and for Maggie (who will come in shortly), India Joy Eisley. For now, that's all you need to know so let's get on with the story.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural or anything in it, I do own Lia, Maggie, and Maureen.**

* * *

**Chapter 1: Shouldn't Come Back**

Air. All she could smell was the sweet, sweet, scent of air. The air on Earth was different than the air in Purgatory, sweeter, sharper, more familiar. Walking through the woods, Lia was extremely disoriented. She had no idea where she was, what day it was, or even what year it was. After walking for a while, she comes across a small convenience store. Luckily it was open twenty-four hours a day. As she pulls the door open, she catches a glimpse of her appearance. There was dirt everywhere, her hair was complete chaos, and frankly she looked like a zombie.

The ding of the bell on the door alerts the cashier that someone was there so he looks up, nearly dropping the magazine in his hand when he sees the woman who had just entered. "Um, miss, are you alright?"

Lia immediately picks up on the accent of the kid and determines that she is somewhere in the Northeastern part of the country. "I'm uh, I'm lost. Can you tell me where I am and what day it is? And um, where the nearest pay phone is?" she asks, stuffing her hands in her pockets.

To her surprise, her fingers wrap around some crumpled bills and a piece of plastic. She pulls them out and examines them while the cashier gapes at her, gauging what to do. To her surprise, she had nearly $80 in cash and an old credit card, one that she was hoping still worked.

"You're in Maine. It's February 5th, 2014. Are you sure you're alright? Perhaps you should let me call you an ambulance, you don't look so good." the cashier responds. He looked to be a college student. His eyes indicated he hadn't had much sleep and the three empty Styrofoam cups next to him indicated he was running on caffeine.

_February of 2014? Fuck! I've been, for all intents and purposes, dead for almost two years! _she thinks to herself. "I'm fine. I just need some food and directions to a motel and I'll be all good."

"Well if you've got money, buy anything you want here and I can call you a cab to get you to the nearest motel, a girl like you walking alone out there at this time of night is just asking for trouble." the guy, Ryan, at least that's what his name tag claims, tells her, brushing a strand of his moppy brown hair out of his face.

"I do. Thanks. I'll um, go pick some stuff out." Lia says, turning around. She catches the clock for the first time and discovers that it's a bit after midnight.

She walks around and picks up a cheap T-shirt that read "I ❤ Maine" and some yoga pants with the same inscription on the ass. She then picks up two candy bars, a bag of trail mix, a packaged deli sandwich, two bottles of water, and an energy drink. With all of that in hand, she heads to the desk and pays for her stuff.

After waiting around for twenty minutes, the cab that Ryan had called shows up and takes her to the closest motel. There she gets a room, showers, eats, and gets some sleep. The next morning she decides it was time she try and contact someone. Unfortunately, Lia really had no one. She was a foster kid since the age of nine, her mother was, for most of Lia's life, an alcoholic and drug addict. Her mother, Maureen, had driven drunk one night with her and her sister, Maggie, in the car and promptly crashed. That hospital visit was the last straw for the state. They took her and her sister away as soon as the hospital released them. She never saw her mother again. Maggie had then died when Lia was fifteen and from that day forward, Lia was truly on her own.

The only person that popped into her head was Dean Winchester. For years she had heard about the Winchesters. They were infamous in the hunter community. Some hated them and some praised them. Lia had never met them and never made up her mind about them. But down in Purgatory, Lia met Dean. Being the only two humans, they stuck together and eventually formed somewhat of a team with a vampire named Benny and an angel named Castiel. Dean had told her once that should she get out without him or should they get separated and she needed help to call his brother, Sam. He had written down three phone numbers on a scrap of paper that he had with him and gave it to her. _Please let it still be in my jacket, _she thinks to herself, scooting off of the bed and walking over to pick her jacket up off of the small coffee table.

To her relief, she pulls out the dirtied, crumpled, slip of paper. The numbers were faded but thankfully still legible. She tries the first one but finds it disconnected. After a few rings on the second number, Lia almost hangs up, but before she does, she hears a voice on the other end that stops her.

"Hello?" the voice says.

"D-Dean?" she questions, recognizing the familiar sound.

"Who is this? How did you get this number?" Dean says. His voice was hard and he sounded slightly angered.

"It is you." Lia says, letting out a sigh of relief. "It's me, Lia."

There's a pause on the other end. She almost thinks he'd hung up.

"Lia?" he says, sounding entirely shocked.

"Hi."

"You're out? How? Are you okay? Where are you?" he asks, now rapidly firing questions at her. He'd gone from angry to concerned in the blink of an eye.

"I'm alive. As for okay, I'm not so sure. I'm uh, at a motel in Maine." she says.

"Catch a bus to Lebanon, Kansas. I'll pick you up."

"What? No way, you don't need to do that. I'll be fine." Lia says. She hadn't intended for that, she just wanted to see if she could get through to anyone. She didn't want to burden him with anything.

"Lia, you just got out of Purgatory after almost two years. You're alone and lost. Get your ass on a bus to Lebanon and I'll pick you up, got it?" Dean says, his tone making it clear that he wouldn't be taking no for an answer.

"Fine. I'll find a bus station and call you to let you know when I'll be there."

Dean then gives her his cell number and says he'll be waiting outside for her with his car, an old Chevy Impala.

* * *

After hanging up, Lia heads out. She asks the motel clerk for directions to the nearest bus station and then walks the few miles to it. When she gets there, she buys her ticket. When she finds out it would take almost a day and a half and required her to switch busses, she calls to let Dean know the time to expect her. After that, she buys a bottle of water and a bottle of pop from one of the vending machines along with a bag of pretzels and a pack of Reese's. Lia boards the bus a half an hour later.

Thirty-five hours later she is stepping off a bus in Lebanon, Kansas. Lia had called Dean when she switched busses to give him a better estimate as to when she'd be in Lebanon. When she walks out of the bus station, she almost immediately spots Dean Winchester leaning against the hood of his car, waiting for her.

When he looks up and locks eyes with her, his face lights up and he stands upright.

She's not sure what hits her but she runs to him, throwing herself into his arms.

Dean catches her and wraps his arms around her tightly. "I can't believe you're alive." he mumbles into her hair.

"Me either." Lia replies, her words muffled against his chest. She wasn't exactly sure why, but she was clinging to Dean for dear life. He was the first familiar face she'd seen in such a long time.

"Let's get you home and cleaned up, okay?"

She pulls back a bit at the word 'home' and tilts her head up to look at him. "Home?" Lia questions.

"Sammy and I have a home base now and you're staying there with us." he says, as if it were obvious.

"What? Dean no, I-" she begins to protest only to have him cut her off.

"It wasn't a question, Lia. You're coming. I'm not leaving you completely alone." Dean says firmly, his piercing green eyes boring into her hazel ones.

With the tone of his voice and the way he was looking at her, she knew he wasn't going to let her go.

"I let you go once, I'm not doing it again." he says before taking her head in his hands and pulling her into a kiss.

She's momentarily stunned, completely caught off guard, but Lia wraps her arms around his neck and kisses back.

When he pulls back she asks, "What was that?"

"Something I should've done a long time ago. Now come on, let's go home."

* * *

Lia was silent the whole car ride. She felt Dean throw glances at her every so often, but she just sat staring out the window. When Dean pulls up to what he called 'the bunker' and gets out of the car, she just sits there frozen in her seat. _What am I doing? I shouldn't be here._

Dean was heading for the door when he realizes he didn't hear Lia's door. He spins around and tilts his head slightly in confusion when he sees her still sitting in the Impala. He walks over and opens her door, saying, "This is it. Come on, let's go in."

"I uh, I don't think I should be here. This wasn't a good idea. I should um, I should go." Lia manages to say. She was second guessing herself and growing increasingly nervous. Other than the time she'd spent with Dean in Purgatory, the two knew almost nothing about each other. She was pretty much a stranger.

"What? No. No, you can't leave." Dean says, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion.

"Dean, I can't. You and your brother don't need me screwing things up with you guys, changing your dynamic. Sam just got you back a few months ago, right? And you guys have this place now. I'd just screw things up, cause more problems. You don't even know much about me. I'm… I'm, for all intents and purposes, a stranger. I shouldn't be here. I probably shouldn't have even called." she says, having gotten out of the car.

As she turns to walk away, Dean grabs her wrist and spins her back towards him. He looked to have a few tears in his eyes. "No. I just… I just got you back. No. You can't leave. Please, Lia, don't go." Dean pleads with her, his grip on her wrist tight enough that she couldn't wriggle out of it.

"Dean…"

"Lia, please. You won't screw things up, alright? You couldn't. And you are not a stranger. I spent nearly a year with you in Purgatory. Besides, what could possibly be so bad about you that I don't know?"

With the look he was giving her, she didn't know what to do. There were many things about her and her past that could and probably would send him running, but there were probably things about him that could do the same for her. "You'd be surprised." she mumbles.

"Whatever it is, I don't care. I care about you, Lia. I never thought I'd see you again, but now you're standing here, alive, and I can't lose you again, I just can't. Just come inside. Take a shower, eat, get some sleep, and we can talk more tomorrow."

"Does your brother even know about me?" she asks. The flicker of an expression that crosses Dean's face tells her that Sam did not know. "That's what I thought." she adds and goes to turn and walk away again.

This time Dean steps in front of Lia, stopping her once again. "Lia, wait."

"What, Dean? Can't you see that this won't work?"

"What won't?" Dean says, his voice now taking on an eerily calm tone.

"This." she states, not sure what he was trying to get her to say.

"What do you mean by this?"

"This. Me living here, hunting with you and Sam, and…" Lia trails off, not able to say what it was that she was truly scared of.

"And what?" he asks, his voice still strangely calm. It was as if he knew what she was trying to say but wanted to make her say it anyway.

"And us." she mumbles almost inaudibly.

Dean nods and bits his bottom lip, stepping back a bit. "You don't want to be with me."

"Dean…" she trails off, not sure how to say what she was thinking. It wasn't that she didn't want to be with him. It was that she knew he didn't want to be with her, at least not the real her. He couldn't. _Too much baggage and emotional damage. No one in my damn life has ever wanted me, so how could he? _

"No. I get it. Why would you want to be with me anyway?" he says. She could see him putting walls up, growing defeated.

"No, Dean, it's not you. It's me. You don't want me. Trust me, you don't." she replies.

"That's not up to you, Lia. That's up to me. I get to decide if I want you or not, and I do." Dean says. His tone had changed again, grown firmer.

"No, you don't."

He steps closer and takes one of her hands in his. When she tries to pull back, he tightens his grip. "Yes, I do." he insists, his eyes boring into hers.

"No… No… W-why?" she says, shaking her head. _How could he want me?_

"If I have to explain why I want to be with you, we'll be here for hours. Just say you'll stay." he says. He'd come even closer, to the point where his face was only a few inches from hers.

Seeing as he stood a good five or six inches taller than her, Lia couldn't help but find herself staring at his lips. And when looking at Dean Winchester's lips, all she could think about was kissing them, again, and again, and again. All the doubts and precautions in her mind melt away and she raises herself up on the tips of her toes to press a kiss to his lips before saying, "I'll stay. For now."

She hears him sigh in relief as he wraps an arm around her waist. "Good. Now let's go inside."

She nods and he leads her to the door, opening it and pulling her inside. She wasn't sure what she expected, but what she sees isn't it. Just from the stairs she could tell this place was massive, old, and beautiful. "Wow." she mutters.

"Wait until you see the whole place." he responds.

As the two walk down the stairs Dean calls for his brother. "Sammy! Come out here."

Sam surfaces a few minutes later. She wasn't sure what she had expected from him either, but again what she sees isn't it. Though she'd heard about the Winchesters before, Lia had never met them or seen their pictures prior to Purgatory. Sam was taller than Dean by maybe two or three inches, his hair was much longer, and he seemed to be a bit more built than Dean.

"Who is this?" Sam asks, looking confused.

"Alright, this is probably something I should've said back when I got back from Purgatory but-" Dean begins only to be cut off by his brother.

"Purgatory? Is she another vampire like Benny?" Sam asks, clearly cautious of her.

"He knows about Benny and not me?" she asks, stepping back slightly to look Dean in the eye.

"Can we all sit down please?" Dean says.

"No." she and Sam say simultaneously, both giving Dean hard looks.

"Jesus, alright. Sam, this is Lia. She's not a vampire, not anything supernatural. She was in Purgatory when I got there. And Lia, yes he knows about Benny, but that's because he had to. He met him." Dean explains.

"Another human in Purgatory? How could you leave that out, Dean? And how could you leave her there?" Sam says.

"I did not leave her there." Dean says firmly, stepping closer to Sam, his face temporarily flooding with anger.

"He tried to get me out. But when Castiel fell back, I did too. It wasn't his fault." she says, sensing that a fight was going to break out between the two brothers.

"Okay. Why the hell didn't you say anything, Dean? How could you not mention there was another human? Let alone a girl that you very clearly care about." Sam says.

He had a point. If Dean had told Sam about Benny, why wouldn't he have mentioned her too?

"I couldn't. It hurt to even think about her. I thought she was gone, that I couldn't get her back, and that was my fault. But that doesn't matter because she's here now and she's staying with us." Dean insists.

"Alright. I'll let it go." Sam relents, raising his hands slightly in surrender.

"Okay, I'm going to go see what clothes I can find for you and get some stuff set up. Sammy, can you show her the kitchen?"

Sam nods and Dean walks off, leaving Lia alone with Sam, who was studying her.

"What?" she asks as she watches his eyes search her body, lingering on her face.

He bites his bottom lip, much like Dean had outside, before saying, "Nothing."

"You want to ask something." she states.

"How old are you?"

"How old am I? That's really what you want to know?"

"Oh believe me, there's a lot I want to know, but for now, yes." he replies.

"What year is it again?" she asks, realizing she wasn't sure how old she was.

"2014. February of to be exact."

"I'm uh… I'm 29 then. Fuck. I'm old." she says. She'd missed two birthdays in Purgatory.

"29? You're not old. You're young, younger than both Dean and I. How old were you when um…" Sam says, trailing off.

"When I killed a Leviathan and landed myself in Purgatory?"

"Yeah, that." he responds.

"27. It was May of 2012 and I have an October birthday so I missed two." she tells him.

Sam was about to say something else when Dean walks back in. "What are you two still doing in here? I said show her the kitchen and this ain't the kitchen."

Sam shoots her a look saying that he intended to talk to her more later and then says, "Sorry."

"Come on, let's get you cleaned up and get some food in your stomach." Dean says, extending his hand to her.

With a glance back at Sam, she takes Dean's hand and lets him lead her towards a bathroom.

Without a doubt she'd be talking to Sam more later. She couldn't quite explain it, but she felt drawn to him somehow. Something told her that the two of them were very similar.

* * *

"So this place is nice." she says as Dean leads her down the hallway.

"Yeah, it's got a long history. I can explain it to you more later. For now, you need some food, a proper shower, and some sleep." Dean says.

He stops outside a doorway and motions for her to go in. "This is the best shower in the place. I managed to find a pair of sweatpants that had shrunk and the smallest shirt of mine that I had and put it in there."

"Thanks, Dean." Lia says.

"Alright, I'll be back in the living room." Dean states.

Dean then walks back to the living room where Sam was still standing.

"You've been back for months, Dean, months, and you never even mentioned her, not once." Sam says.

"Sammy, don't." Dean warns.

"No. I don't get it, Dean. You clearly care about her, how could you not say anything? Not try to get her back at least? You just left her."

"I did not leave her." Dean says, venom seeping into his words.

"But you did. Maybe it's not your fault that she fell back, but you knew she was there and you did nothing about it."

Sam had a point, Dean had told himself the same things over and over again ever since he'd gotten that call from Lia. Ever since he'd gotten back from Purgatory himself, he'd beat himself up over losing her. He'd never gotten to tell her how he felt, there was not time or place for romance or feelings in Purgatory, and then he'd lost her. So now he wasn't going to let it happen again, he wasn't going to lose her.

"And now, all of a sudden, she shows up and you take her in just like that? What do you even know about her, Dean?"

Lia was walking back to ask Dean if they had any other soap but she stops in her tracks when she hears Sam ask, "What do you even know about her, Dean?"

She steps back against the wall so that neither brother could see her if they looked but she could still hear the conversation.

"Sammy, don't." Dean warns yet again.

"Do you even know her last name?"

The look that floods Dean's face tells Sam that he didn't know. "You don't. I get that you spent a year in Purgatory with her, Dean, but you've got to understand where I'm coming from here. We know nothing about her and I mean just the fact that she was in Purgatory alone raises some flags. Leviathans weren't easy to kill, how did she do it?"

_Sam's already suspicious of me. I knew I shouldn't have even come in, I knew it, _Lia thinks to herself.

"Dammit Sam, stop. You're right, okay? You're right." Dean begins.

That was all Lia needed to hear, she didn't care to hear anything else Dean had to say. She walks back to the bathroom and quickly showers. She then changes and walks off to find a bedroom, hoping she could fall asleep or at least pretend to be asleep before either brother noticed.

By walking away, Lia missed the important part of the conversation.

"You're right. I see where you're coming from, okay? But what happened to benefit of the doubt? Innocent until proven guilty? Stuff like that. She's a hunter, Sam, she's going to have a past, but I couldn't just leave her out there alone. Right now, she needs to get some sleep and get adjusted to being on Earth again, we can find out more about her after that. Be nice, would you?" Dean tells his brother.

"Alright, alright. I'll be nice. But I don't trust her, not yet."

"Good. I'm going to go see if she's doing okay." Dean states and then heads towards the bathroom.

When he doesn't find her there, he checks the bedroom down the hall. Inside he finds Lia passed out on the bed wearing his old shirt and the sweatpants, which she had cut into shorts. He smiles and shakes his head slightly. He then grabs a blanket out of his room and drapes it over her before heading back to the living room.

* * *

The clock in the room read 12:30 and Lia figured that both brothers should be asleep so it would be a good time to sneak out. She didn't have a phone or a car, she didn't even really know where she was, but she was pretty sure she could find her way back to the bus station on foot. From there, she'd get a ticket to New York, where she should have gone in the first place.

Just as she was about to step foot onto the stairs, a voice stops her in her tracks.

"Where are you going?"

A light clicks on as Lia turns around. She finds Sam getting off of the couch and walking closer to her.

"Can you just go back to sleep and forget that you saw me?"

"Not a chance. What are you doing?" Sam says.

"Leaving. I never should've even called Dean in the first place. I don't belong here. You're already suspicious of me, it's only a matter of time before Dean decides I'm worthless anyway." Lia tells him, trying to keep her face emotionless.

"You heard us earlier."

"I did. But that doesn't matter. I really should leave. I have somewhere I need to go anyway."

At that, Sam steps in front of her, blocking the stairs up to the door.

"Sam, move."

"No. I'm not letting you do this to Dean. Yes, I am suspicious of you, but being a hunter you know you would be too if you were me. That doesn't mean I don't want to get to know you. I do. But you can't leave. If you have somewhere to go, we'll all go."

"Sam-" she begins only to have the younger Winchester cut her off.

"Lia. I'm not letting you walk out this door so you might as well give up and go back to bed."

She sighs and says, "Fine. Where's the kitchen? I'm not going back to bed."

Sam directs her to the kitchen, where she spends the rest of the night.

* * *

"Sam says you tried to leave last night." Dean states the next morning, walking into the kitchen around eight.

"I told you this wasn't a good idea, Dean."

"Talk to me then, don't just try and sneak off in the middle of the night. Where do you need to go?"

"New York."

"What's in New York?" Dean asks, taking a seat across from her.

"I have an apartment there. There's probably no water or electricity there now, but I own it." Lia explains.

"We'll all go then."

She was about to protest but the look on Dean's face told her he wasn't going to change his mind no matter what she said.

"Fine."

"We'll leave in an hour then. I'll go let Sammy know."

_Great, this is so not what I wanted. As soon as they find out who I really am, about my past, they'll go running. They don't even know my real name._

* * *

_A/N: I hope you liked the first chapter! I was a bit nervous about starting this fic but I think I've got the jitters worked out and am excited about continuing it. Maybe let me know what you think? _


	2. Distance

_A/N: The faceclaim for the character Addison introduced in this chapter is Candice Accola. _

**Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural, Sam, or Dean. I do own Lia and Addison.**

* * *

**Chapter 2: Distance**

Before it was even ten in the morning, the three of them were all in the Impala headed for New York.

"So you wanna tell me where we're going?" Dean asks, glancing at her in the rear view mirror.

She doesn't respond and just continues looking out the window. _If only I could've gotten past Sam last night. _

"Lia." Dean states, his voice louder.

"An apartment in Brooklyn, alright?"

They drive the next few hours in silence until Dean stops for gas.

"What is your problem?" Sam asks, now turning to face her.

"You." Lia responds coldly.

"Me? What the hell did I do?"

"You stopped me last night. Got me in this position. You should've just let me go."

"Let you go and break Dean's heart? No way." Sam says.

"Please, he'd be fine. Now you just prolonged the inevitable anyway. There's no way in hell you two are going to want me around much longer."

"He would not be fine. I see the way he looks at you. I haven't seen him look at anyone like that ever. The closest would've been with Lisa. And what exactly is so bad about you that you think is going to send us both running?"

Lia just shakes her head and mutters, "Same thing that sent everyone else running."

"What was that?" Sam questions, raising an eyebrow at her.

"Nothing."

"Lia-"

"I said nothing, Sam." she says firmly, getting him to drop the topic.

Sam just slumps back in his seat and grumbles, "Whatever."

* * *

The rest of the drive to Brooklyn is silent. It was a good twenty-four hour drive without stops. They drove straight through, only stopping occasionally for food or gas. Lia directs Dean to the Avalon Fort Greene apartments on Gold Street and they park outside. It was about eleven in the morning.

"I don't have my keys but the spare should still be where I hid it." Lia says and then walks in the doors.

"Lia! Long time no see. We were beginning to think we'd never see you again." Brian, one of the security guards says.

"Hey Brian." Lia responds, giving the guy a small smile.

Brian had been there since she'd moved in years ago and the two had developed a decent friendship.

"I'm sure Addison will be glad to see you."

"Wait, Addie is here?" she questions, her eyes nearly popping out of her head.

"Yeah. I know you two are always in and out, but she's in right now, has been for a while."

"O-okay, thanks Brian." Lia says and then turns on her heels to face the Winchesters. _Oh I am oh so totally screwed. _

"I don't suppose you two will just walk out the door and leave?"

"Hell no. We're coming up." Dean says, heading for the elevator.

"Fuck." she mutters and trails after him.

When the three reach the apartment door, Lia opens it and takes a deep breath before stepping in. The sound of Matchbox Twenty immediately hits her ears. Addison was definitely here.

"Addie?" she calls out tentatively.

Within seconds Addison appears. Her long blonde hair pulled into a bun and her face free from makeup. "Cece? You're alive?" Addison says, staring at her in shock.

"Cece?" Sam and Dean question from the doorway, glancing at each other, silently asking 'What the hell?'

Addison hadn't seen them yet.

"I'm alive." Lia says, stepping forward.

With that, Addison steps forward and pulls Lia into a bone crushing hug. "You-you were gone, I- I saw it."

"I know. I'm here. But um, Adds, you're not going to like who is here with me." Lia says.

Addison had a past with the Winchesters. Though she'd never met Sam or Dean, she knew what they looked like and hated them. All because of one John Winchester.

Addison pulls back and looks up. "Oh hell no. The Winchesters, Cecelia?"

_Full name. She's definitely pissed. _"Addie, listen-"

"Oh don't you 'Addie, listen' me. Do you not remember what their father did?" Addison says, glaring at Sam and Dean.

"Hold up, our father?" Dean says, speaking up for the first time.

"I am not talking to them. I don't even want them here." Addison states coldly.

"It's a good thing I own this place too then. Sam, Dean, go in the kitchen please, there should be beer. I need to talk to Addie."

Neither brother budges, they just stand their giving her wide-eyed looks.

"Go." Lia says firmly.

Reluctantly, Sam and Dean walk off towards the kitchen, both making sure they could still hear though. There was no way they were missing this conversation.

"What the hell, Cece?" Addison says, her hands on her hips.

"For the hundredth time, stop calling me that." Lia says.

"Fine. What the hell, Lia?"

"Look, when I killed that Leviathan, it landed me in Purgatory. I met Dean there."

"Well you're not in Purgatory anymore, why the hell are you still with them? Need I remind you of what their father did?" Addison says. She was nearly shouting now.

"I had no choice! Believe me, I wanted to come alone, because I know that as soon as they found out who I really am, they're going to leave. Everyone always leaves. But they are not their father. You cannot hold that against them." Lia says, her voice raised also.

"They're still Winchesters, Lia! They'll kill me!" Addison shouts.

Lia doesn't say anything so Addison continues.

"How do they think you even landed yourself in Purgatory anyway? Those sons of bitches weren't easy to kill. Two normal hunters couldn't do it alone. They're going to find out I'm a witch and they'll kill me point blank."

"A witch?"

_Fuck. They heard her. _

Sam and Dean were now standing a few feet away from them, hands on their weapons.

"She's a witch." Dean states disbelievingly.

Both of them now had their guns out.

"Dean, wait-" Lia begins but he cuts her off.

"You gunna tell me she's not a witch?"

"Well, no but-"

"Then give me one good reason why I shouldn't shoot her."

"Because you'd have to shoot me too." Lia says, stepping in front of her friend.

"Lia, move." Dean says firmly.

"No."

"Dean may not shoot you, but I could." Sam says, his gun still aimed.

"Sammy." Dean warns.

"You two can do one of two things here. You can walk out that door and pretend you never even met me, or you can put your damn guns away and hear both of us out." Lia says calmly.

"I'd prefer the first choice." Addison adds, causing Lia to shoot her a glare.

The brothers exchange a look, carrying on a silent conversation.

"Fine. You better have a damn good explanation though." Dean says as he and Sam put away their weapons.

The Winchesters take seats on the couch and Lia and Addison take seats in chairs across from them. Addison was glaring at the brothers, Sam was glaring at Lia, who was glaring back at him, and Dean just looked conflicted.

"Okay. Addison is a witch, yes, but not like you'd think. She doesn't hurt anybody and she rarely even practices. She was born into it. Now you don't have to like her, I know she doesn't like you, but you will not kill her, you understand?" When neither brother responds, Lia repeats, "I said, do you understand?"

"Yes." both of them grumble in response.

"Good. Now, you." Lia says, turning to Addison.

"Me? What did I do?" Addison says.

"You will not harm them or be rude, got it? They didn't do anything to you and they are not their father. Okay?" Lia says.

"Fine."

"You've said that already. What do you mean? You knew our dad?" Dean says, glancing between to two of them curiously.

"I didn't." Lia says, her eyes now boring into Addison. It was Addie's story to tell and she just wanted her to tell it.

"Oh come on." Addison says, brushing a blonde strand of hair out of her face.

"Hey, it's your story. You're the one with a grudge. You explain, I'm going to go shower and change into my own clothes, assuming you didn't get rid of all my stuff. Be nice."

Addison narrows her eyes at her best friend and purses her red lips before saying, "Fine. And Lia, you have so much stuff that it would have taken me years to get rid of."

"Funny. When you're done, order food from that one place if it's still open, I'm starving." Lia responds.

"Oh it is. Jake's been looking for you too."

"I'm sure he has."

Sam and Dean watch the conversation between the two of them completely perplexed. The girl Dean was seeing now wasn't anything like the girl he'd seen in Purgatory or back at the bunker.

As soon as Addison hears Lia's bedroom door shut, she turns her attention back to the Winchesters. "Alright, first thing's first. I have spent almost half my life hating the Winchester name. Lia said you two aren't your father and maybe it isn't fair to hold what he did against you, but it's not going to change like that. Your father killed my parents. My uncle, who was also a witch, had gotten out of hand and killed a few people, drawing the attention of your father. He killed him and came after other witches in town too. My parents hadn't killed anyone, but he didn't see it that way. They were witches and that was all he saw. Only reason I lived was because I was on a school camping trip. I was 18, it was my senior year, and suddenly I was all alone. I met Lia shortly after, granted she tried to kill me the first time she saw me, but we became friends pretty easily." Addison explains, pausing to let the brothers register everything before continuing.

"Now, that girl is the closest thing I have to family. Up until she walked through that door, I thought she was dead, gone. She'd disappeared before my very eyes and I couldn't find her anywhere, an answer to where she'd gone, or a way to get her back. But now she's here, with you two. Know this, as much as I may grow to like you, I will never not protect her. The second you become a threat to her or hurt her, I will hurt you, got it?" she warns. She'd been watching how Dean was looking at Lia. He clearly cared about her a lot and that was good, but she didn't want to see her best friend get hurt. Lia'd been through enough pain already.

"Got it." Sam and Dean respond.

"Good. Now I'm going to order that food she wanted. The menu is in the kitchen, Sam, if you want to go look. It's on the fridge, only one there." Addison states, her tone more commanding than suggesting. She wanted to speak with Dean alone for a minute.

Sam glances between Addison and his brother, wondering if he should really leave them alone. He wasn't too fond of the fact that Lia's best friend was a witch and was pretty sure Dean wasn't either. Dean nods slightly, telling Sam to go ahead, so he does.

"Now I'm not stupid, I've seen the way you look at Lia. You care about her, and I think that's a good thing, the girl needs more people who care about her. But she's also really hard to get to know. She's worth knowing, trust me, it just takes time. Family is an incredibly touchy subject for her and you'd be better off not bringing it up, she'll open up to you on her own eventually. She's just very strongly guarded, the more you get to know her, the more time you spend around her, the more you can actually see the walls up with her and when they aren't. So don't push her, okay? Just be there for her, take whatever she's willing to tell you whenever she's willing to tell you."

Dean nods and says, "You know her well."

"I do. Like I said, I was 18 when I met her. She was 16, hadn't been hunting more than a few months. That's why she still gets pissed at me for calling her Cece. She hadn't changed to going by Lia yet when I met her and I'm the only one who calls her Cece occasionally." Addison explains, brushing another strand of hair out of her face. So much for a bun keeping it back.

"Yeah… I was going to say something about that." Dean says. He'd made a note of it and had intended to ask Lia later when they were alone.

"Just call her Lia. She wanted to cut off ties to her real name so she went with Lia, it's not a typical nickname for Cecelia. I'd leave that be if I were you too."

Dean nods, planning to do as Addison says. She may be a witch and he may not trust her, but she definitely knew what she was talking about and the last thing he wanted to do was cross Lia and cause her to push him away. He did want to get to know her, be with her even, he just knew now he had to give her time.

"Now, I'm going to order that food. You know what you want or do you need a menu?" Addison says, standing up.

"Menu." Dean replies, standing up and following Addison into the kitchen.

* * *

After showering, Lia finds herself standing in her closet with just underwear and a bra on. She was standing in front of a full-length mirror, truly studying her appearance for the first time since she got back from Purgatory. Her hipbones were more visible than they should be and she'd lost some of the fat in her thighs. The black arrow tattoo on her left wrist stood out against the paleness of her skin, as did the three black birds on her right hip. The various scars she had stood out too, the newer ones from Purgatory contrasting with the white skin surrounding them. Her chocolate colored hair fell down in waves past her shoulder blades, tapering off right past her breasts in the front. Her blue eyes looked duller, like they'd lost the last bit of sparkle they'd had in them. With a sigh she pulls her old favorite casual dress out of the closet. Sure she was a hunter, but that didn't mean she didn't enjoy things like dresses or make up occasionally. She slips on the navy dress, puts on a white infinity scarf, and puts some mascara and red lipstick on before standing in front of the mirror again. She at least recognized herself now and felt a bit better. Satisfied, she heads out to find Addison and the Winchesters, hoping they hadn't killed each other.

"I see you found your favorite dress." Addison states, the first one to notice Lia.

Sam and Dean both turn their heads towards the doorway and both of their mouths practically hit the floor.

"Whoa." Dean mumbles.

"What? Did you think I just normally looked like I was half dead?" Lia says, walking over to the fridge.

"Did you order?" she asks Addison.

"Yep. Should be here in a half an hour or so." Addison replies, shaking her blonde hair out of her bun, letting it cascade down her back.

"So." Lia states, leaning against the counter, a can of Diet Coke in her hand.

"So." Dean says.

"What now?" Lia replies.

Both brothers exchange glances as Lia and Addison do also.

"I think that's up to you." Dean says.

"Guess so. If it's good with the rest of you, can I sleep on it? There's enough room for all of us here and then tomorrow we can work something out?" Lia says. She wasn't sure what she wanted to do. Seeing as the Winchesters were still there, she kind of wanted them to stay. But she also didn't want to leave her best friend for good to hunt with them.

The rest of them nod in agreement.

"Okay. Good."

Once the food arrives, they all eat lunch in relative silence, only with occasional small talk.

After they'd finished, Addison stands up and says, "Alright, I have to go to work. I'll be back tonight, I can bring back dinner if you want, just let me know."

"Work?" Lia questions, raising an eyebrow at her.

"Yeah, after uh, after you disappeared and I couldn't find you, I sorta just dropped hunting. Wasn't the same without you." Addison responds.

Lia nods, not wanting to press her further, not yet at least.

Addison leaves a half an hour later, leaving Lia with the Winchesters.

"So." Sam says, breaking the ten minute silence. The three hunters had just been sitting staring at one another.

"So." Lia responds.

"Got any good movies?" the younger Winchester asks.

"Whatever we have is in the living room."

"No chick-flicks." Dean says.

Lia just shakes her head and heads towards the living room, both brothers trailing behind her.

The three of them end up watching movies until Addison comes back with pizza and beer around eight. The four then play two games of poker and watch another movie. Come eleven, everyone was ready to go to bed.

* * *

"I can take the couch, one of you can take my bed." Lia suggests.

"I'll grab extra sheets and pillows." Addison says and walks off towards the linen closet.

"No. You sleep in your bed." Dean says.

"Yeah. We're good." Sam agrees.

"You're sure? I'm smaller, I can fit better."

"We're sure."

"Alright um, I'll be right back." Lia says and then walks off towards her room.

"Why'd you follow me?" she questions once she was in her room. Her back was to the door but she knew Dean was standing in the doorway.

"I wanted to see if you're going to be okay. Sleeping alone, I mean. I know what it's like, Lia, to be back after Purgatory. I know you didn't get a lot of sleep back at the bunker and you didn't sleep at all the day long car ride here."

"Dean…" she trails off, not really sure what to say. She couldn't lie to him, not about this, because he was right, he knew what it was like. He'd gone through the same thing a few months ago.

"Lia, you don't have to pretend you're fine, alright? You're not. I know you aren't. I wasn't, hell I'm not sure I am now either. But what I'm saying is I'll stay with you, sleep in here, if you want. If you think it might help." Dean says. When he sees her hesitation he adds, "It doesn't have to mean anything, okay? I don't want you to feel pressured into anything. I just want you to know that I'm here and I'll stay if you want me to."

Lia bites her bottom lip, trying to figure out what she should say. She did want Dean to say, but she also didn't want to seem weak. "I um, I think I'd like you to stay."

Dean nods and says, "Okay. I'll go make sure Sammy is good out there and I'll be back."

Lia nods in response and watches him walk out the door. She then walks into her closet, shutting the doors behind her. Her closet was almost a small room. She had a mirror in there and enough room to change, so that's what she does. She slips out of the dress and scarf, undoes the clasps on her bra, and then pulls out a green camisole and pair of black shorts. Once she has those on, she heads to her bathroom to brush her teeth and wash her face. By the time she's done, Dean is back in her room.

"You okay?" Dean asks her, catching the look on her face. It was different with her now. Back in Purgatory it was much easier to get a read on her. Then again, it needed to be. He needed to know if she was hurt or if something was up. Now, well now it was a whole different ball game.

"Let's just get some sleep." Lia responds, not answering his question.

Dean nods again and waits to see what side of the bed Lia slept on before he stepped closer. Once she steps towards the side closest to the door, Dean moves to the other side.

Once they were both lying down, the room is completely silent. After a minute Lia says, "I forgot to shut the door. Can't sleep with it open." She then gets up to close it. When she gets back in bed, she glances at Dean for a minute, deciding if she should scoot closer to him or not. Before she could talk herself out of it, she does scoot closer, resting her head against his chest.

Dean stiffens for a moment, slightly caught off guard, but then relaxes and wraps an arm around Lia, holding her close to him. He hadn't slept in the same bed with someone in so long that he almost forgot how good it felt, comforting really. Just having someone there, especially someone who understood some of what he'd gone through.

"Thank you." Lia whispers, pulling a sheet up to her shoulders.

"Any time. Now get some sleep." Dean responds, pressing a soft kiss to the top of her head.

Ten minutes later, Lia is asleep, her head still on his chest. He'd waited to close his eyes. He wanted to make sure she actually fell asleep before he did. A few minutes after that, Dean was asleep too. And for the first time since Dean had been back from Purgatory, he slept through the night, nine hours straight.

* * *

_A/N: So here's the second chapter, I hope you like it (: I think I have a bit more of an understanding with this story and where I want to go with it. The first chapter was a little rough. I'll probably start getting episodes with the either the next chapter or the one after. Let me know what you think?_


	3. Tied Together With A Smile

_A/N: This took me so long to get up, I'm sorry. I got so incredibly blocked._

**Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural or anything in it. I do own Lia, Addison, and Maggie. **

* * *

**Chapter 3: Tied Together With A Smile**

Lia wakes up a little before four in the morning and heads towards the kitchen, careful not to wake Dean. Knowing she wouldn't be getting back to sleep, she grabs a can of Diet Coke from the kitchen and takes a seat at the table, wrapping herself in the blanket she'd dragged out with her. She'd also grabbed her phone, the one she hadn't checked in over a year and a half. No doubt she'd have hundreds of missed messages seeing as Addie had kept her phone up and running. _At least my two-year contract is probably up and I can get a new iPhone now, _she thinks to herself. She opens the can of pop and takes a sip before unlocking her phone.

"What are you doing?" a voice calls from the doorway.

Lia jumps slightly at the unexpected voice. She'd almost forgotten Sam was asleep in the living room. _How did he hear me though? I was quiet and didn't turn any lights on. The one above the sink was already on. _"Nothing."

"Doesn't look like nothing to me." he responds, now walking into the kitchen and taking a seat across from her.

"What are _you_ doing?" Lia asks him.

"Sitting down."

"Just go back to bed, Sam."

"Nope." he responds, leaning back in the chair, his arms crossed.

"Why not?"

"You didn't answer my question."

"I said nothing. Now go back to bed."

"It's not even four am and you're awake. It's not nothing. You don't look like you're planning on going back to bed either."

Lia narrows her eyes at him and says, "Why do you even care? It's pretty obvious you hate me."

Sam's face softens and he tilts his head slightly before saying, "Hate you? I don't hate you."

"You definitely don't like me." she responds, now fiddling with the pop tab on the can of Diet Coke. She and Sam had barely spoken more than a few sentences to each other and none of them were exactly friendly.

"It's not that. I don't know you, well, not really. You see, I asked how old you were because when I saw you, you reminded me of someone. I didn't say anything because I thought there was no way it was you. But now, after Addison called you Cecelia, I think it is." Sam explains.

Lia immediately lifts her eyes to his and asks, "What do you mean? I would know if I'd met you."

"You had a sister, didn't you?" Sam asks. Right before his eyes, Lia goes stock still, her face becoming completely void of emotion. It was like she'd just frozen, shut down, right in front of him.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Lia responds, voice monotone.

"Her name was Margaret."

"How do you know about her? Did Addison say something?" Lia asks, venom seeping into her words and a few tears forming in her eyes. Her sister hit a nerve with her and was not something she talked about ever.

"No. But Margaret Butler, she was your sister, right? You would be Cecelia Butler?" Sam asks. He'd clearly hit a nerve and was doing his best to not make it worse.

"Maggie." Lia mumbles.

"What?" Sam asks, missing what she had said.

"Maggie. She was my sister. No one called her Margaret, well, no one other than the social workers or foster parents."

Sam nods and says, "I thought it was you. Your sister was my age. My senior year of high school, I was at the same school she was. I remember her pretty clearly. She was one of the only people that have stuck in my mind from high school."

"You knew her?" Lia asks, looking at Sam disbelievingly. It hurt, it hurt like hell to talk about her sister, to even think about her really, but if Sam knew her that year, the year it ended, she needed to know.

"Well, sort of. I don't know what you know about us, how Dean and I grew up, but we switched schools a lot. This was the second one I was at my senior year. I think I maybe spoke to you sister once or twice. We weren't friends. Truthfully I didn't really notice her. We had three classes together but she sat at the back in all of them, barely saying a word. It wasn't until the day, my fourth week there, that the principal walked into our first period class that um…" Sam pauses, not sure how to continue. If this was hard for him to talk about, it had to be nearly impossible for Lia.

After glancing up at her and seeing that she was near tears but still wanted him to continue, he does. "He um, he first asked, 'How many of you know Margaret Butler?' Five kids raised their hands. Another snickered, 'Foster freak?' earning a few muffled laughs. The teacher glared at them with such an expression that shut everyone up. The somber look on both her face and the principal's told everyone right away that whatever it was it wasn't going to be good. His next words were very practiced, like he'd had to prepare himself to say them, 'Margaret Butler committed suicide last night. There will be a memorial service Wednesday.' That was it. The whole class was dead silent, eerie really. No one said anything. Not a word, the entire class period." Sam pauses there to collect his thoughts. That story was something that had always stuck with him. A girl he barely noticed was suffering in silence. Had he just noticed her…

"Keep going." Lia says quietly.

Sam nods and continues. "Well, some kids took it pretty hard. I couldn't believe it. Sure she was quiet, but she was always so nice. I didn't understand, I still don't. Then again, I'd only been there a month. I found out what I could about her and went to the memorial service. There's one image that has stuck in my head since that day, that service. I'd gone alone. I remember so clearly looking to the side of the casket and seeing this teenage girl, about 15 I think, head to toe in black, standing there alone. No parents, no other family, no one. It was you."

She wipes a few tears out of her eyes before speaking, her voice breaking slightly, "Y-yeah, that was me."

"Lia, I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault, Sam."

"Maybe if I'd just noticed her, been a friend…" Sam trails off. The story of Margaret never sat well with him. He didn't think that just by noticing her he could've saved her, but maybe had she had someone to talk to, he could've helped.

"No." Lia says, shaking her head. "There was… a lot more going on."

Sam tilts his head, wanting her to continue. "What do you mean?"

She takes a deep breath and closes her eyes momentarily before speaking, "I don't talk about Maggie ever, okay? So this, this is one time only."

Sam nods in response.

"Okay. Well Maggie and I, um, our parents well, sucked. For the first year or so of my life, they were fine. A good and proper family. I mean look at our names. Cecelia and Margaret Butler? But um, I guess one day my mom found out my dad had been cheating. She left him, took us with her. She then began heavily drinking all the time. By the time I was three she was rarely ever sober. She was either drunk, high, stoned, strung out, or a combination of the above. And it was like that for years." she begins, trying to keep her voice steady, even void of emotion.

Sam hated what he was hearing. He thought his childhood was shitty, but now he felt almost lucky to have had John as his father.

"But uh, one night when I was eight, all three of us were in the car. My mom was drunk, drove straight off the road and into a tree. That was the last time I ever saw her. They took us to the hospital, Maggie and I in one ambulance, my mom in the other. I had broken my arm and needed a good thirty stitches. Maggie dislocated her shoulder and needed almost fifty stitches. I guess some of the staff had started keeping an eye out for us and after our fifth time there in two years, that was it. Child protective services were called and we were taken away." Lia pauses again, closing her eyes to will back tears that were threatening to spill out. She was not going to cry in front of Sam.

"You don't have to keep going." Sam says, seeing how much she was struggling. He barely knew Lia, and to be truthful, he wasn't sure he liked her at first, but now all he really wanted to do was hug her and tell her she was okay, that she was safe with he and Dean. But he couldn't.

"No, no… I do. I started, I-I have to finish."

He nods in understanding. Sometimes once you start something, you have to keep going.

"Well, no one wanted to adopt an eight year old or a ten year old that came from an addict mother so we bounced around a lot. A lot of the time we were split up too. And most of the houses, they sucked, they sucked ass. It was almost worse than living with my mother, at least then Maggie and I were together. So when you knew Maggie… well at that time, we were in two different houses, different schools too. It was December. I remember getting a phone call from her. She'd said she loved me and that she was sorry. I knew, I just knew. And I couldn't do anything about it. I didn't know the address of the house she was in so I couldn't call 911 and no one in the house I was in would believe me or care. It was December 12th. Her birthday was the next day, her 18th birthday. And uh, when you turn 18, you're out on your own. She couldn't do it."

"Lia… I had no idea. I'm so so sorry." He really had no clue. He'd honestly never given much thought to foster kids and the system, how awful it is. _They put you out on your ass the day you turn 18, how is that fair? How is that even allowed? _

"Like I said, it's not your fault, Sam. Sometimes people are just dealt a shitty hand in life. Some can deal with it better than others."

"How um, how…." Sam begins, not sure how to get the words out right. He wanted to know how she got to where she was. Out of the system, hunting, etc.

"You want to know how I dealt with it?"

He nods.

"That's a long story, one I don't want to tell right now. But um, not well. That year, I fell in with a not so great crowd. Drugs, drinking, that kind of stuff. It was bad. I'd almost gotten myself killed or killed myself more than once, probably should have too. But when I was 16, a few friends, if you can call them that, and I went camping. There was an attack. It went down as a bear attack but it was a wendigo. I shouldn't have made it out, it was dumb luck that I did really, but I made it look like I had disappeared too. Left some of my stuff behind, ID and sleeping bag, so that I was presumed missing and eventually dead along with the rest of them. Then I had a clean slate and I got out of town, started hunting. Met Addie a few months down the road and well, here I am."

Sam didn't know what to say. Looking at Lia, you'd have no idea what she'd gone through. Everything she had just said and then Purgatory on top of it all, hell that almost made everything he and Dean had gone through look okay, almost, and if you took out both of them going to Hell, maybe it would. Now he knew why she'd said the things she had the past few days. Why she thought they'd leave once they knew more about her. Everyone else always did. "Lia…"

"It's life, Sam. Don't apologize… just- just don't say anything, okay? And please, please don't tell Dean." Lia says.

"Don't tell Dean? Lia, he should know." Sam says, looking at her with some disbelief. It was obvious Dean cared about her and wanted to be with her, he should know.

"Please. I'll tell him on my own eventually, I will. I just need some time. Promise me you won't tell him."

"Fine. I promise I won't tell him, but you better. Sooner rather than later."

Lia nods and finishes off her can of pop. "You should go back to bed. It's early."

"You should too." Sam replies.

"Nah, I can't. I think I'm going to go out, actually. There's a twenty-four hour diner around here that I like, or at least there was, and I haven't driven my car in so long."

"I'll go with you then."

"What? No. Go back to bed." She didn't want to inconvenience him and she certainly didn't want to keep him from sleep.

"Lia, it's four in the morning and we're in Brooklyn. I'm not letting you go out alone."

She rolls her eyes and says, "Fine. Get dressed."

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, the two of them are out the door. When they get down to the garage, Lia practically runs to her car. Seeing her car in her parking spot brought her more joy than she'd expected.

"That's your car?" Sam asks, looking at it in disbelief.

"If you've got something against Beetles, feel free to head back up."

Sam raises his hands in mock surrender and says, "Oh no, I don't, it's just that Dean's going to have a field day with it." It was a green 2008 VW Beetle. Dean would probably say it was hardly even a real car.

"Well, he insults my car, I'll insult his. Besides, I don't use this one for hunting much. It is a good cover though. Would you expect someone like me, driving this car, to know at least a dozen different ways to kill a person and make it look like an accident?" Lia says, standing by the door.

"Very good point. But insult the Impala, and you will get hurt, or at least be threatened." Sam says, walking over to the other side of the car.

The two then pull out of the garage and ten minutes later are at a diner. They order and ear in relative silence until Sam speaks up.

"Can I ask you something?" he asks hesitantly.

Lia looks up from her plate and says, "You just did. But what?"

"Did you um, did you ever keep up with your parents? Like do you know where they are now? Have you seen either of them since you were little?"

"My parents are dead to me, Sam." Lia responds tightly. She never talked about her parents, ever, especially with someone she didn't know too well. They were best kept out of sight and out of mind.

"But they aren't dead, at least not that you know of, right?" he asks. He was truly curious.

"So?"

"I can't even begin to imagine what having them as parents was like for you, but don't you think maybe seeing them, or at least your mom, could give you some closure? I mean, do you think she even knows your sister is dead? My parents are both dead. My dad… well my dad and I, we never had a great relationship, but if he were here right now, somewhere in the country, alive, I'd want to find him." Sam asks. He'd been thinking about it and couldn't let it go.

"I don't know where they are and I don't want to. I have no desire to ever see my mother ever again." Lia responds firmly.

"I get that, I do. But what about your father? You said your mom took you and your sister with her when you were one, right? Did he ever find you? Do you think he even knows what happened?"

"I don't even remember my father, Sam. I doubt he cares about me anyway."

"Look, I know this isn't my place whatsoever, but don't you think maybe just finding out where either of them are might give you some sort of closure? I could help you find them." Sam says. He'd completely abandoned his plate and coffee and was staring at Lia.

"You're right, it's not your place. And maybe it would help, but right now I don't want to. Maybe I never will. But if I do, I'll let you know, okay?" Lia says. She'd be lying if she said she'd never thought about her parents, mainly her dad, but she never looked for him. She didn't need any more people to turn her away in her life.

Sam just nods and goes back to eating.

After ten minutes of silence, Lia speaks up, deciding to change the subject. "So." she begins.

Sam looks up with a questioning look on his face, indicating for her to continue.

"Well I've been dead nearly two years. I've missed a lot. Care to fill me in on the basics? Like what happened after Dean killed Dick? What's going on in the hunter world now?"

"Well um, actually, after uh, Dean died and I couldn't find him, I uh, kinda stopped hunting. Didn't go back to it until Dean came back so I can't really tell you what happened." Sam admits.

Lia's mouth drops open slightly. Despite not having met the Winchesters before, she'd definitely heard stories about them. The messes they got themselves into, the things they'd do for each other. So to hear Sam had just stopped was shocking. "Oh."

"Yeah, I'm not exactly proud of it. But uh, since Dean has been back, well, things have been a little bit quieter I guess? It's nothing like with the Leviathans thankfully. We've had a couple regular hunts, a werewolf, a spectre, some others. Something with Benny who I'm guessing you were close with too?" Sam says, pausing there for a response.

"Yeah, I was. We uh, we had an odd little team down there. Dean, Castiel, Benny, and I." Lia says, trying to keep her voice calm. Purgatory was definitely a touchy and raw subject area for her still. She hadn't exactly processed it all yet.

Sam nods and continues. "Well that was in November. We ran into him again in January, just a couple weeks ago. Benny is uh, a touchy subject I guess. Dean and I haven't seen eye to eye about him. I'm sure you and I wouldn't either. Our most recent hunt was a golem and since then we've just kinda been around the bunker. We've only known about it for a few weeks anyway."

"So nothing big right now? That's good I guess. So what have I missed otherwise?"

For the next hour or so, the two talk about stuff outside of hunting. Sam fills her in on any big things she missed and they just make small talk for the most part. It was around seven when the two actually finish.

"I can take you back to the apartment but I don't really feel like going back. I think I'm going to head to Central Park for a while, just think some things through. You can come or I can take you back." Lia says as the two head out of the diner.

"I think I'll come. I've actually never been there despite how many times I've been to New York." Sam says.

"Okay."

That's how the two spend the next two hours, just walking around and exploring Central Park in relative silence.

Sometime after nine Lia's phone rings. "Hello?"

"Where are you?" Addison asks, not bothering with a greeting.

"Uh..."

"Lia, Dean's freaking out a bit. He woke up and you weren't here. Neither is Sam. He's not used to you disappearing like I am, so where are you?"

"Central Park. Sam's here too. Sorry, I should've left a note. We'll head back now." Lia responds.

"Central Park. That would've been my second guess. Okay. I've gotta go to work but Dean will be here."

"Alright, see ya later then, Addie."

"See ya, Cece." Addison says and then hangs up.

Lia rolls her eyes at the use of that nickname and tucks her phone away.

"Dean's looking for us." she tells Sam.

The younger Winchester nods and the two of them make their way back to the car.

* * *

A half an hour later they're back at the apartment.

"We need to talk." Dean says, his sights set on Lia. He didn't even bother with a greeting.

Lia just nods in response.

"I'm uh, I'm going to go check out the fitness center here or something. There is one, right?" Sam says.

"Yeah, you'll be able to find it." Lia tells him.

Sam tosses his bag over his shoulder and disappears down the hallway.

"I forgot to leave a note, okay? I'm sorry." Lia says once Sam was out of earshot.

"I'm not upset, Lia. Yeah, it freaked me out a bit when you weren't here, but I mean we need to actually talk. We need to sit down and figure stuff out." Dean says, gesturing to the couch.

She nods and takes a seat.

Dean does the same.

"Okay." Lia says, not sure where they should start.

"Alright, I think the first thing I need to know is what you want. Do you want to stay here? With Addison? Just go back to however your life was before Purgatory? Or do you want to stay with Sammy and I? Hunt with us, have a place at the bunker, be with uh, be with me?" Dean says, his eyes locked on hers. While he'd been waiting for her to get back he was figuring out what he should say to her.

"No. I don't know. I mean I can't go back to the way things were. It's not possible. But I also don't know if I can just stay with you and Sam. You know very little about me, Dean. Right now…. right now you might think you want to be with me, but you don't. Trust me, you couldn't possibly." Lia says. She really didn't know what she wanted. That's what she tried to figure out while she and Sam were wandering around Central Park.

"Why do you keep saying that? What could possibly be so bad about you that you think no one would want to be with you?"

"I can't get into this, not again, not right now. Let's just say that no one in my life has ever wanted me, okay? Everyone always leaves." Lia says, her eyes anywhere but on Dean. After watching Sam walk out, she drops her eyes to her hands. She just couldn't look at him. _Looking into Dean's eyes makes you feel like he's looking right into your soul. Those damn beautiful green eyes. It isn't fair, _Lia thinks to herself.

"Not again?" Dean asks, catching her word choice.

"I uh, I may have told Sam. More like he guessed it. Turns out we'd actually kinda met before." Lia says quietly.

"So you can talk to Sam and not me? And what do you mean you met before?" Dean asks, trying not to get angry. Addison had said she was hard to get to know, and he'd let that be, but if she was talking to Sam and not him, that was something else entirely.

"No. Like I said, he guessed it. I can't do this right now, Dean, please don't make me. Just- just take what I'm giving you here, okay? I had a sister. She was Sam's age. They were apparently both at the same high school senior year. She uh, she committed suicide. Sam said he looked into it after he asked me how old I was and then after Addie said my full name, he figured it out, confronted me about it this morning."

Dean's face immediately changes, any anger fading and concentration along with concern taking over. "Margaret." he says after a minute.

"You knew her?" Lia asks.

"No. I remember Sam saying something about it, going to her funeral. He wanted to make sure there was nothing supernatural going on so he told me and we both looked into it a bit. She was your sister?" Dean asks softly..

"Yeah. I can't talk about her, Dean, not right now. And that isn't my point, at least not all of it. We were foster kids. My mom was an alcoholic and drug addict, she didn't care for us, and we were taken away from her when I was eight. After that I bounced around in foster care for eight years until I got into hunting. My father didn't want me, or he'd have found us, my mother didn't want me, and not one of the dozens of foster parents I had wanted me. No one wants me, Dean. You don't either."

"Hey, look at me." Dean says, gently lifting her chin with his hand. "I'm sorry. About your sister, your parents, everything, but I am not any of them, okay? I do want you. I want to be with you. You have a past, one that you don't like to talk about, and I get that, but I'm not going to go running. I care about you, Lia, and nothing you just said changes that. You got that?" He was searching her eyes, trying to figure out what was going through her head. He knew it couldn't have been easy for her to say what she just did.

"I um, I don't know what to say." Lia responds. She really didn't. No one had ever said that to her, no one had ever cared that much about her.

"Just tell me what you want, okay? Because whatever it is, I'll go with it. I just need to know."

"I do want to be with you, I do. I just… I don't know if it's going to work." Lia admits, dropping her eyes back to her hands again.

"We play it by ear then, take it day by day, okay? If you want this, if you want to hunt with us, great. If you don't, well, that's okay too. I don't want to push you into anything." Dean says. He really wanted to tell her to just come with them and that he didn't want to be without her, but he was holding it back. He didn't want her to feel pressured into anything.

She nods and says, "Um, I need to talk to Addison, but I think I'd like to hunt with you guys for the most part. But I want to take my car back to the bunker so I have it and can leave to meet Addison on a hunt or come back here when I want."

"Okay. We can do that." Dean says, a small smile on his face. She wanted to stay with them, and more importantly, she wanted to stay with him.

After a minute he continues, "Okay, next thing. You have been dead nearly two years. I know what it's like, adjusting back to life here after Purgatory, and it's not easy. I think you should probably take a week or so to just get back into things. Train, actually sleep, refresh yourself on anything you need to, stuff like that. Sammy and I don't have anything major right now so we can too."

Lia nods again.

"Good."

"Thank you." Lia says quietly a minute later.

"For what?" Dean asks, cocking an eyebrow in confusion.

"Just for everything. Not just here, in Purgatory too. You saved me down there, Dean, more than once. And I don't think I ever thanked you for that."

Dean takes one of her hands in his and says, "You don't have to. You saved me down there too, Lia."

Lia nods and tries to compose herself. She'd had enough deep conversations for the day and it was only 9:30 in the morning. "I kind of need to go shopping. Would you want to go with?" she says, changing the topic entirely.

"Why not. I'll get dressed." Dean says before walking off.

By ten, they're out the door.

"So what car is yours?" Dean asks as they walk into the garage.

Lia points to her VW Beetle and watches Dean's face. "You insult it and I'm leaving you here." she says, walking ahead of him.

Dean just shakes his head and follows her, keeping his mouth shut despite the many insults and jokes formulating in his head.

"Besides, much can be said about that car of yours too." Lia adds, getting into the driver's side.

"Don't you dare insult baby." Dean replies defensively.

Lia just smirks at him as she puts the key in the ignition.

A year ago they were both fighting creatures in Purgatory. Now they were going shopping. But looking at Dean in the passenger seat of her car, she wouldn't have it any other way.

* * *

_A/N: This chapter has a lot of heavy backstory in it. I'll go into it more eventually, but probably more spaced out. If you'd like to see flashbacks occasionally, maybe let me know? I could do those, I might anyway. As I stated in opening notes, the faceclaim for Maggie is India Joy Eisley if you want to know how I'm picturing them. I apologize again for this taking so long to get up! Reviews are greatly appreciated (:_


	4. Author Update

Hi guys. First of all, I want to thank those of you that have enjoyed these first three chapters. Unfortunately, I do not have time right now to take on another fanfic, though I really truly wish I did. Right now I have school, college apps, and my other fanfic, Holding A Heart. I'm really busy and do not have the time to write this fic. I'm going to be taking a break from this story for an undetermined amount of time. With the new year, stuff will settle down with me and I should be able to pick this story back up, but it'll at least be another month or so before anything gets posted. So thank you again, and hopefully you'll still be here when this story gets updated again.

\- Liz


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